This invention relates to a mechanism to drop an object freely. More particularly, this invention relates to a mechanism to drop a spherical object to an arbitrary location on the ground in a simple manner, which is suitable for a golf club or a similar game apparatus.
Men and women of all ages are enjoying the game of golf these days. Golf is a game to hit the ball having a diameter of about 4 cm (centimeter) on the ground with a lesser number of strokes to put the ball in a hole or cup on the green.
The game of golf can be roughly classified in its play into a process of placing the ball onto a green where a hole is provided, and a process of putting for hitting the ball on the green with a putter to bring the ball into the hole.
The practice of putting purports to put the ball, or a spherical objected placed on the ground into a hall. The putting is also enjoyed for its own sake as recreation. This invention is directed to a game apparatus which is similar to a golf putter, although it is not limited to the putter. However, for the convenience of explanation, the following description is made based on the golf putting.
When a player practices putting or plays putting as recreation, the player has to place balls on the ground (placement process). Hence, in order to practice putting ten (10) times, for example, the player has to place the ball ten times. To repeat such a simple routine of placing the ball is boring and frustrating. Moreover, bending down to place a ball on the ground may pose significant difficulty for an elderly player or a player with a back pain. When a player practices putting with many balls, the player has to carry a container storing many balls such as a bag.
Thus, it is desired to achieve means for easily and automatically placing the balls on the ground without a player""s action to bend over the ground to place the balls. A possible apparatus to achieve this objective can be classified into two, an apparatus mounting a spherical object drop mechanism to a club, and an apparatus having a spherical object drop mechanism separately from the golf club.
If the apparatus to mount the spherical object drop mechanism independently from a golf club is to be used, the apparatus having the spherical object drop mechanism needs to be brought over with a player in addition to golf clubs. Moreover, when the spherical object drop mechanism is large, it must be fixed to a specific location on the ground and thus, the ball must be placed only on the same position.
For the apparatus to mount spherical object drop mechanism to a golf club is to be used, it is conceivable to place a ball on the ground with an electric powered mechanism. However, such a structure becomes complex, expensive and inconvenient since an electric power supply such as a battery must be used.
Thus, it is desirable to have a mechanism that allows ball placement on the desired position on the ground by mechanical means with simple structure and low cost.
Moreover, the user need to carry the spherical object drop mechanism if such a mechanism is provided to the golf club. When the balls are stored in the spherical object drop mechanism, rough handling or careless tilting or dropping of the spherical object drop mechanism may cause the balls to fall out. Thus, it is desired to establish a means to prevent the balls from falling out from the mechanism.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism to drop and place a spherical object on the ground for use with a golf putter or a game apparatus similar to a golf putter.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a mechanism to mechanically drop and position a spherical object for a game such as a golf ball on the ground with a simple configuration.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a ball game apparatus which integrally includes a spherical object drop mechanism and a ball storage where the drop mechanism is to drop a spherical object for a game such as a golf ball on the ground by a simple and inexpensive configuration.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a spherical object drop mechanism which is able to prevent spherical objects for a game such as golf balls from falling out from the drop mechanism with use of a simple and inexpensive configuration.
The spherical object drop mechanism for game apparatus of the present invention has the mechanism to drop spherical objects one by one on the desired location of the ground. In one aspect of the present invention, the spherical object drop mechanism is comprised of:
a ball guide for storing a plurality of spherical objects in a manner to move in a vertical direction with their own weight;
an upper support provided to an upper portion of the ball guide;
a lower housing provided to a lower portion of the ball guide;
a ball stopper ring provided in the lower housing for stopping or releasing the vertical movements of the spherical objects;
a drive part for driving the ball stopper ring in stopping and releasing the spherical objects; and
a lever to operate the drive part from outside.
The spherical object drop mechanism for game apparatus of the present invention is able to drop the ball one by one to the ground. Since the spherical object drop mechanism of the present invention has a simple configuration, it can achieve high reliability, ease of production, and less needs of maintenance. Accordingly, it is able to produce the spherical object drop mechanism of the present invention at low cost, light-weight, and strong.